ASHLAND, Maine (AP)— Monitors predict that thousands more deer than usual will have succumbed to winter´s dangers _ starving or frozen to death or left as easy targets for predators _ before spring turns warm and green in the northern reaches of New England.

Concern is high in Maine´s North Woods, where populations typically are only one or two deer per square mile compared to 20 or more per square mile in some southern areas.

Maine wildlife officials estimate that in parts of the region where snow is still several feet deep, nearly one-third of the herd won´t survive until the snowpack melts.

"If you had a snow year like this every year in northern Maine, you would not have deer," said Lee Kantar, DIF&W´s lead deer biologist.

For the 2008 hunting season, state officials expect to issue at least 10,000 fewer any-deer permits, which allow sportsmen to kill does as well as bucks. More than 66,000 any-deer permits were issued to hunters last year.

Maine´s overall deer population is estimated at less than 250,000.